12-Year-Old Accidentally Kills Cousin with Shotgun He Got for Christmas

A 12-year-old Pleasant Valley, Alabama boy was with his 12-year-old cousin when he went inside to get the 20-gauge shotgun he had received as a Christmas present. He wanted to show his cousin his new gun.

He brought the gun outside and was showing it to his cousin, who was on a trampoline, when he unintentionally discharged the gun and shot his cousin in the chest.

"The injuries were too severe and the young man was pronounced dead at the Jacksonville hospital," said the local sheriff.

The sheriff doesn't expect any charges to be filed. Alabama does not have any law that prohibits allowing a child access to firearms.

"If an adult buys a gun and gives it to a child that's not a crime in Alabama," said the sheriff. "There's no restriction whatsoever in that so the responsibility comes back to us as an adult. If I put a child in the front seat of a car with me and I don't put on a seat belt and something bad happens I'm responsible....So the lesson is for people to take these things very seriously, to make sure we're doing everything we can to ensure that safe practices are followed whatever the device is."

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